Passionate about cooking || Passionate about animals // Just not together

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

It has been one of those weeks. You know, when things just keep going wrong as soon as you fix the last problem. Yeah. We’ve managed and I haven’t lost my mind yet, but I haven’t really been focused on cooking and truthfully, Thursday just snuck up on me. Don’t you worry your little tails off though. I still have a recipe for you this week!

First off, I decided to get a little pumpkin for decor around the house. I love fall, but since I’ll be giving birth to BabyBenji late November/ early December, I’ve decided to do minimal decorating this year, so I don’t have to ton to take down and put up right after. But then I checked out the sticker label on the pumpkin and it was a “pie pumpkin”. That was it. I HAD to cut this thing open and use it. It was no longer decor. It was a pie pumpkin!

This recipe is going to be for roasted pumpkin seeds, using said pumpkin. I made puree with it too for pumpkin pie, but you’ll have to wait for that recipe 😉
To start, you have to cut the top off that baby and dig in. Get all the “gunk” (does the stuff inside have an actual name?) and seeds out. It also helps if you have an adorable toddler to dig in there for you!

First, obviously you want to rinse them of all the “gunk” stuck to them. Just use a colander and rinse them until they’re clean.

I decided I wanted to make a traditional salty batch and a sweeter batch. I’d never tried to make them sweet before, but I thought “what the heck?” and they turned out alright. I still prefer the traditional ones, but they were both good.

It’s important to boil the seeds in some salty water before you bake them. I feel like it really sets them apart from just throwing them in the oven. It gets the insides salty too, so when you bite into them, the insides are just as delicious as the outsides. Of course, I didn’t do this with the sweet batch, but it’s definitely an important step that a lot of people skip, or just don’t know about.

I boil them in about 4 cups of water, with 2 tablespoons of salt for about 10 minutes. This is also the perfect time to preheat your oven to 325°F. When they are finished boiling, dry them off real well with a towel and put the seeds in a bowl. I put them in 2 separate bowls, because I was seasoning them differently, obviously.

Then, it’s as simple as seasoning and oiling them. This is more about your preference and how salty or sweet you want them, but I added about 1/2 tbsp salt and 1-2 tsp of olive oil to the traditional seeds, and the same amount of oil and 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon to the other batch. If you’re doing one whole batch, just double that. Mix well, then put them flat on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes and Voila! Yummy, crunchy, roasted pumpkin seeds!
Really, once you’ve gotten this far, you can oil them and go crazy with the seasonings if you wish. Do whatever tickles your pickle!